Mel's Story
by Elena Kansi
Summary: Mel's grown up in an average family, average as can be when you're a charmed child. But demons attack and the kids are left to fend for themselves. Normally it would be easy work, but divisons spring up between kids. Will they get their parents back?


**A/N: **Heyy, This one has been on my mind for a year or so. I started with what is now going to be chapter three [it's almost completely written, hooray for me and realized I had to start sooner, so it became chapter two. And then I wrote this and realized this had to be split into two part, and it became chapter three. 

Anyway, Mel, Chris, Wyatt -Piper&Leo /Cassie, Carol, Henry -Paige&Henry /Patti, Penny, Prue -Phoebe&Coop

If I owned anything Charmed related, I would have kept the show going, so you all know this isn't mine :  
Cheers!

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Melinda walked home from school, to the 'manor' accompanied by all her cousins. It was a nice warm day, and most of the children were celebrating the beginning of summer vacation. Her two older brothers, Wyatt and Chris, were not walking home with the rest of them. They had orbed straight home, not even offering to the others to take them home. Mel pushed down a knot of frustration and jealousy and instead focused on enjoying the pleasant walk home with her six noisy cousins. Cassandra and Caroline had skipped ahead, dragging Penny with them. Mel was walking with the younger Prue and Henry Junior, along with her best friend and cousin, Patti. At the moment, Patti was talking about her favorite subject, the thing she always talked about most, boys. Mel had tuned her out and was instead keeping an eye on Cassie and Carol, who she did not particularly trust, especially when they had that mischievous look on their faces. They were Aunt Paige's daughters, and had recently started being rude to their older cousins. Patti had reckoned it was out of jealousy. Around adults though, the two were perfect angels. Mel found this rather amusing.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Patti asking loudly if she had been paying attention to anything she had been saying.

Which, of course, she hadn't. "Nope," she smirked as she held Prue and Henry's hands as they crossed a street. Mel spied her house down the block and hoped they made it home before Patti could get into her whole 'you-need-a-boyfriend, let-me-set-you-up' speech.

Mel sighed and prepared herself for the onslaught. To her surprised, it never came. Instead, Patti started talking about other things, like plans for summer and what movies were must-sees. 

By the time they reached the manor, Patti had talked Mel into going to see a movie later that week and then maybe trying to hit the club. Mel had no idea how she had agreed to this, but shrugged it off, telling herself it was a movie she had wanted to see anyway.

Once they entered the cool interior of the house, Mel deposited the younger children in front of the electronic babysitter, more commonly known as the television. She and Patti wandered upstairs to her room. 

On the way, the two passed by Wyatt's room. They skirted the boxes spilling out into the hallway, and peeked inside, only to see that he was almost finished packing. Mel felt a ball of sadness in her chest and neither girls spoke until they had reached Mel's room and Patti had flopped out on her bed.

"So…" Patti began, idly watching Mel boot up her laptop. A picture of the entire family popped up, followed by the usual icons. Mel clicked on internet explorer.

Patti got up off of the bed and wandered around the room, fixing her appearing in the mirror beside the dresser, and then examined the little bottles of nail polish lined up on top. She pulled a pink out of the line and unscrewed the lid. The smell of nail polish filled the room and Mel wrinkled her nose as she checked her email.

"Josh write back?" Patti asked, reading Mel's mind, and already knowing the answer before the question left her lips.

"Nope," Mel sighed, spinning around to watch her cousin. "Wyatt and Chris did a pretty good job scaring him away. I think they actually threatened him this time. Losers." She spun back around and continued to check her email.

"You really should talk to them about this," Patti informed her while admiring the shade of the polish on her thumbnail. "It's getting out of hand."

"I have!" Mel exclaimed, tugging on her hair, frustrated. "They're convinced I'm like eight or something!"

Patti tsked and worked on painting the rest of the nails on her left hand. She poked her tongue out in concentration.

Both girls were silent as they focused on their tasks. The only sound was the clatter of keys being pressed down and released as Mel answered a message. 

Patti placed the top on the polish and blew on her nails before speaking up. "Besides. If he's intimidated by your brothers, he's obviously not worth the effort. Really. Enjoy the vacation and we'll find you some other boy."

Mel laughed outright and closed the window, before spinning around to face her cousin. "You mean _you_ will find another boy. By the way, how's the latest boyfriend of yours doing? What's his name… Bradley?"

"It's Brady," she said, looking bemused and starting on her other hand, "And it's going great, thank you very much."

Mel smiled and bounced up off her chair. "That's great. But I smell a breakup in the air—not you silly," she laughed at Patti's alarmed look. "Chris is getting that way again. Kinda a shame, because I actually liked Gina."

Patti frowned. She hated breakups. "Maybe…" she tried, but words failed her. They both knew how Chris was. She shrugged helplessly and finished her nails.

Mel put the bottle back and then dragged Patti back downstairs. She was waving her right hand vigorously in an attempt to dry her nails faster.

None of the adults were home yet, Aunty Paige, Uncle Henry, and Aunt Phoebe often worked until six or later, Piper until midnight, more often than not even later. Both Uncle Coop and Leo had irregular work hours. One never knew where there was going to be an emergency at magic school or with the love in the universe. No one knew when to expect them home.

At that exact moment however, a soft red light filled the living room and Prue jumped up shouting, "Daddy! Daddy!"

Uncle Coop appeared, courtesy of his ring. Prue and Patti rushed over and he enveloped them in a hug. Prue's shouting brought out the twins and Penny, who also rushed to her father. "Well look at my girls," he laughed. "You all ready to go home?"

There was a chorus of yeses, and Uncle Coop laughed softly, leading his children out front to where his car was parked in front of the manor.

Mel sadly watched them leave, and then turned to the twins who had false smiles on. Mel grew a bit suspicious, but brushed it off. Surely two thirteen year olds couldn't get into _that_ much trouble.

She glanced at Henry, whose eyes were glued to re-runs of old Sesame Street. Shaking her head, she shouted upstairs. "Chris!"

"I'm on the phone!" he yelled back as Cassie and Carol raced up the stairs. Mel chased after them, but by the time she reached the second floor hallway, they were nowhere to be seen. Shrugging uneasily, she went and knocked on Chris's door, ("Go away!") and then Wyatt's.

When she peeked around his door, she saw, much to her dismay, that Wyatt was nearly done packing and ready to move out. She watched him quietly, a small smile on her face as she remembered the fights and arguments he had with their mother, Piper, to let him move out. Piper was so dead set against him moving away, but Leo had to remind her that they had to let him go sometime. So Wyatt, eighteen and just finished with high school, got an apartment downtown, and Piper extracted promises that he'd visit every weekend. Mel had overheard her telling their father that every time her sisters had tried to move out, it hadn't worked very well.

"Hey Lindy," he called out affectionately to his younger sister, "What's up?"

Mel wrapped her arms around herself and stepped into her brother's empty room. She watched as he sent the last of the boxes to his new apartment, and then shrugged. "This place is going to be empty without you."

He smiled good naturedly. "Hey, you'll still have Chris."

Mel allowed herself a brief look of disgust, before composing herself and replying neutrally, "Yes, I will."

Wyatt studied her for a moment. "What ever happened between you two? You were inseparable since you were little."

Mel felt old bitterness well up, but shoved it down, sighing instead. "He grew up—became a teenager, and I was still a kid, _and _treated me like a_ baby_! He got a girlfriend, then another, then another, then-"

"Alright, I get the picture," Wyatt laughed, waving a hand.

"Yeah well, he's been a jerk lately too," she grumbled.

"He's a teenage boy, what do you expect?" Wyatt chuckled again, "And now you're a teenage girl, where's the raging hormones?" 

Mel stuck her tongue out at him, wishing for the umpteenth time that her brother would just stay home.

"Hey, you want to visit the apartment?" Wyatt asked, changing the subject.

"Sure!" she said enthusiastically, and then her face fell. "But what about Cassandra and Caroline?" 

He waved a hand dismissively, "Chris is here. Besides, we won't be long." He put his hand on her shoulder and they dissolved in a flurry of blue light.

Wyatt's new apartment was small three rooms, a bedroom, kitchen slash living room, and a bathroom. And, from what Mel could see, it was filled with cardboard boxes. He had an old worn couch Mel recognized from the basement, and a chest of drawers from the attic. His eating table was a folding chair and a folding table, both compacted and leaning against a wall with a window overlooking the parking lot. Mel tsked when she saw the state of disarray it was in. She looked up at Wyatt, who was grimacing. 

She sighed and navigated her way through boxes to the couch, where she plopped down, Wyatt next to her.

"So when do you start?" she asked curiously. She was referring to his new job. Wyatt had decided to take a break from school for a year, taking an internship with an architecture firm, before heading to college the year after that.

"Monday," he grinned, excited about his future prospects. "Monday at seven." 

Mel congratulated her brother, and inside promised herself that she would never get a job that required her to be at work before ten. "So… do you need any help unpacking… organizing?" she inquired hopefully.

"No," he said, smiling gently and looking out the window, "Lauren is coming later and she's going to help me sort things out."

Mel grinned slyly at her older brother. Lauren was his long-time girlfriend, and unlike Chris, he was completely serious about her. He had even managed to balance magic and other's views of normality perfectly, she didn't suspect a thing. "So when are you two going to move in together?" she asked.

"None of your business," he laughed, "But she says I need to have a 'Roof Stomping' and I think that's a party. You're invited. So is all the family, just—no oddness."

Mel laughed. "We can try but you never know…"

Wyatt ruffled Mel's short hair and then stood. "I think you should be getting home, and I need to unpack."

Mel stood as well, somewhat reluctantly, "Alright then, bye Wyatt."

"Bye Lindy," he said, and then waved his fingers. Mel dissolved in blue light, and Wyatt was left standing alone.

Mel found herself in the middle of Wyatt's now-empty room. The fading blue light showed just how empty the room really was. Suddenly her chest constricted and she was filled with a hollow sort of feeling. She shoved it down, and barged across the hall into Chris's room, not bothering to knock.

"Hey! What are you doing?" He shouted, outraged. He had been sitting in his computer chair, talking on the phone. He briefly whispered something into the mouthpiece and hung up.

"Spending some quality time with my big brother," she teased, her tone syrupy and annoying. She smiled sweetly, and then flopped down on his bed. "Was that Gina on the phone?"

"None of your business!" he breathed heavily for a moment, before calming down. "No, it wasn't. It was Emily. Now get out of my room!" He made to grab at her, but she leapt nimbly off his bed. Thoroughly disgusted, she raced out into the hall ahead of him, and he slammed his door shut. 

"Stupid!" she called to him through the wood. It really disgusted her the way he would just date and dump girls left and right. Sooner or later it was going to bite him where it hurt, and she and Patti both knew it. Problem was, neither knew how to put an end to it.

Mel set off downstairs to look for Cassie and Carol. To her surprise, they were in the living room with the spirit board. Henry Junior was still glued to the television set, watching something called Playtime, and involved a lot of animated characters waving their arms around wildly. She watched Cassie and Carol for a moment from behind a potted plant that was conveniently hiding her from their view. They were asking stupid questions like 'What is the name of my first kiss' and 'Who will I marry.'

Mel snorted and stepped into view. The two girls immediately fell silent, which made her laugh, but she just flicked her fingers at them, and went to the kitchen to make them some lunner, her family's term for in between lunch and dinner. 

She had taken out all the ingredients necessary to make a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich when the phone rang.

Mel scooped up a glob of peanut butter with a spoon and stuck it in her mouth, and then picked up the receiver.

"Hello, Melinda Halliwell speaking," she said, pulling the spoon out of her mouth.

"Hey hun," said a voice on the other line, which Mel immediately recognized as her mother, Piper's. She sounded stressed, and Mel could hear shouting in the background.

"Oh hey mum," Mel smiled, even though her mother couldn't see her.

"Listen, I'm going to be a little late getting home tonight-"

Mel groaned and licked the spoon. 

"I know, I'm sorry sweetie, but I just can't leave right now. Do you think you could manage dinner?"

Mel nodded, feeling sad. She really missed her mother's meals. It wasn't just that they were really good[and they were _really_ good but it was a time when all the family sat down and ate together. She could count on one hand the number of times her family had eaten together in the last six months or so.

"Mel?" came the voice on the other end. "Lindy?"

Mel cleared her throat and replied nonchalant, "Yeah mum, I'll be fine." She licked some more peanut butter and listened to her mother yell at some poor worker who had dropped something.

"Oh and honey, Paige called earlier and said you could go ahead and send the kids home anytime."

Mel pumped her fist up in the air and brought it back down, smiling widely. "M'kay mum."

"Alright, well I've got to go. Love you."

"Love you too mum," She said, and then popped the receiver back in the cradle. She stuck the spoon back in her mouth and looked at the unmade sandwiches. Deciding she was going to make them anyway, she finished the four, poured a cup of milk, and grabbed three cokes. Balancing all delicately, she sashayed into the living room, and passed out the goods. Cassie and Carol, who had gone silent when she entered the room, murmured their thanks. Mel was too busy to noticed, trying to get Henry to eat his sandwich and stop watching the television. Finally she gave up, and stuffed the sandwich in his hand. He at it monotonously, like he didn't know what he was doing.

Mel shrugged and grinned. "Right you lot, you can all go home once you've finished eating," she announced, clapping her hands together, and then sat down to eat her own sandwich. 

The twins finished theirs off in record time, and each one grabbed one of Henry Jr.'s hands, and they orbed away before he could utter a word of protest.

Mel sighed enviously, and then got up, taking all the trash away to the kitchen. When she returned to the living room, she sat on 'her' big comfortable armchair, and watched television, old reruns of a show before her time. Something called Scrubs, which made her laugh hysterically.

Mel had shut off the television and was upstairs reading when she heard the front door open and close. She dropped her book, which wasn't that interesting anyway, and raced down the stairs. 

Her father Leo stood in the front hall, and was hanging up his coat. Mel barreled into him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Whoa, hey, look who's happy to see me! What's the occasion?" he grinned, smile lines forming.

"Nothing," Mel smiled happily, "I'm bored."

Leo let loose a laugh. "Oh I see, I'm your entertainment. Let's see what we can do about that boredom."

"Tell me a story!" she begged. Her father told the most amazing stories, half of which she didn't believe, and all were about her mother and aunts. There were certain periods of time which he didn't like to talk about, but Aunt Phoebe filled in those holes.

Just then, Chris appeared at the top of the stairs. "I thought I heard someone come in."

Leo smiled and beckoned the teenager down the stairs. "I'm just about to tell Mel here a story. Want to listen in?"

"Sure," he whooped enthusiastically, sliding down the banister. He sat next to his sister on the couch, and she was sitting with her legs drawn up, a pillow hugged to her chest.

Leo sat in an armchair and pulled off his shoes. "Alright, which one do you want to hear?"

"How you and mum met!" Mel gushed dreamily. Chris scoffed. 

"Come on, we've heard that one millions of times. Tell us something exciting, something new!"

Leo looked deep in thought. "Something new, something new…" He looked up slyly at his children, who were staring back with eagerness shining in their eyes. At times like these, he almost believed that they were little kids again, getting along.

"Have I told you about the time Paige went back in time via-"

"Grandma's Go-go boots," they chorused.

He smiled, "Obviously that's a yes. How about the time your aunt Phoebe was a genie?"

"Yes!" Mel said, smiling fondly as if she was remembering something.

"No," Chris said at the same time, rolling his eyes.

"Tell us about aunt Prue?" Mel asked carefully. Mel had only met her aunt once, that she could remember, and it was for some special holiday when the moons were aligned or something. She didn't really remember, being only seven at the time.

Leo thought for a moment and leaned forwards. "How about the time your aunt Prue became a man!"

Both teenagers leaned forwards, slightly grossed out, but completely engrossed.

Their father leaned back and laughed, "I'll take that as a yes."

"Well, it all started during the famous heat-wave of way back when. Your aunt Phoebe started having these dreams. These s-, erm," he broke off, coughing. "_Anyway_ these dreams were about a succubus who was draining men's testosterone before killing them."

Mel looked mildly disgusted, the emotion mirrored on Chris's face.

"The girls traced the victims back to a dating service, Fine Romance or something, I can't recall. Your aunt Prue signed up, intending to scope out the place. Piper found a spell in The Book of Shadows meant to call a succubus to someone. Long story short, Prue read it, and transformed into a man. Manny, I think they called her. Needless to say, she was pretty pissed. And she wasn't very good at being a man either. She started a fight, got _arrested_ and still wasn't any closer to catching the succubus. But eventually she was her next victim, and got seduced." He laughed at their disgust, "and Darrel tried to shoot the succubus. They all thought she was dead and done for, but as like most magical demon type creatures, guns can't kill them. And Prue was still a man! She was upset, to say the least. So they all went back to the manor, this manor, and looked in The Book of Shadows. They realized they had to burn the demon to kill her. Your aunt Phoebe kept seeing what the succubus was seeing, and consequently saw her kidnap Prue- erm, Manny. Phoebe and Piper were a little freaked out. Okay, a lot freaked out." 

All of them laughed, before Leo continued.

"You mom actually thought of the idea to try and get Phoebe to control what the succubus was saying. Phoebe spoke through her and reminded Prue she was a woman, and could in fact, resist the succubus. And she did! The succubus was so confused, and Prue used her powers to send her flying into some candles and the eggs and succubus all went up in flames. I hear it was quite gruesome. But Prue turned back into an Aunt, instead of an Uncle, and you have no idea how happy she was! And, err- well, that was the beginning of the Dan days. But that's not important."

Mel and Chris, who had been hanging on their father's every word, burst out laughing, having her many stories on this subject, their father's tales were slightly bigoted.

"All right, all right. Isn't it time you too went to bed?" he asked chuckling. They both hugged their father goodnight, and then Mel raced upstairs to get the bathroom first.

Late the next morning, Mel was in the kitchen making herself a bacon and cheese omelet while her mother stood nearby, relabeling potion ingredients. 

Chris stumbled sleepily into the kitchen, muttering 'food… food…" and messing with his hair.

Wyatt wasn't far behind, looking much more awake, and carrying the mail. "Morning mother," he said cheerily and kissed her on the cheek. He dumped the letters on the table, and carried the newspaper to the table. 

"Shouldn't you be at your apartment?" she asked smiling. 

"Too empty, and besides, you know I can't resist your cooking." he grinned charmingly.

Piper waggled her fingers at him, smiling, as she ruffled through the mail. She stopped when she came to a thick parchment one, from a fancy hotel in London. She ripped open the envelope as Mel took the pan off the heat and scooped the omelet onto a plate. She stuck her tongue out at her brothers, who were eying her food hungrily, and they groaned and got cereal. 

Leo walked though the back door and smiled good naturedly at his children. And went and kissed his wife. Mel, Chris, and Wyatt all saluted their father in some way, Mel waving a fork with a bit of egg hanging off it, Chris with a glass of milk, and Wyatt with a head nod.

"What's that?" Leo asked Piper.

"Oh nothing," she said, brushing it off. "Just some fancy get together in London with some high-and-mighty chefs. I don't even know why they invited me."

"Maybe because you build a successful business from nothing, and are an _excellent_ cook!" He picked up the letter. "Look here, it's even signed by a Chef Moore. Hey isn't that the guy you worked under at quake?"

"Let me see that!" she snatched the letter from him and looked it over quickly. A look of disbelief shone on her face.

"You should go," Mel chirped, taking a bite of her eggs.

"Oh no, I couldn't. I have the restaurant now and I don't want to leave you guys-"

"I'll look after them," Leo said, effectively blocking his wife's chief argument.

"Well-" she began, but was cut off as a shimmering blue light filled the kitchen, and aunty Paige orbed into view. They was a quick chorus of variations of 'Hey aunt Paige' from the tired teenagers, and Paige waved at them before hugging her sister.

"Hey Piper sorry to interrupt breakfast like this, How are you all doing?"

"Great," Piper replied, putting some toast in the toaster.

"That's great. Hey Leo, any new of that group of demons?" her expression was hopeful.

"Well, the Eld-" he began but was cut off by Piper, who was wagging fingers at the both of them.

"Not during Breakfast! Save it for Magic School."

Mel grinned in her eggs, and watched as Paige orbed Leo 'up there.' Mel had been to Magic School for every summer as long as should could remember. But she couldn't just pop in like her brothers could, and it did make her a bit jealous, although she'd never admit it.

She sighed and pushed the remains of her omelet to the center of the table, where Chris grabbed them and scarfed them down. "Goss!" Mel muttered, and then "Pig." Only Wyatt heard, and he snorted into his dry cereal.

She pushed away from the table, and wandered slowly up to her room, taking time to look at all the pictures on the wall, even though she knew their contents by heart. As she peered at them, several generations of Halliwells peered back. Up ahead of her was the family tree, and she traced her crooked line, the one that lead from Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt, down to her name, Melinda Halliwell. Smiling, she fondly recalled when it had been put in.

She had originally found the family tree when she was six or so, playing quietly in the attic while Billy was making some vanquishing potions, with Piper's supervision. She had asked her mother what it was, and was disappointed to learn she wasn't on it. She had insisted on being added immediately, and also insisted on drawing her own line. Her little six year old hand had wobbled and shook, but she drew all by herself, and thus it remained. 

She moved on down the hall, and passed a picture of her great-grandmother, the one Penny was named after. She made a random silly face as she walked by, as she did every time. It wasn't to be mean or anything, it was just something she did when she was little with her grandmother on the several occasions when she came from the realms of the dead, which wasn't very often at all.

She finished the trek to her room, and laid back on the unmade bed. Her hazel eyes searched the ceiling without actually seeing as she thought about her weekend.

She had no idea what to do with a free weekend, she hadn't had one in ages. Usually she was stuck babysitting the kids every Saturday, while their parents hunted demons and Sunday was spent helping her father at Magic School. But she didn't mind _that. _It was actually kind of fun.

Wyatt was usually busy with school or Lauren, while Chris was sneaking out to party.

She sighed as she realized this would probably be her last free weekend for awhile because starting Monday she was going to Magic School, and on weekends volunteering at the New & Used book store down on Cherrywood Lane. It was to get away from babysitting duty more than anything else, but she did enjoy working there.

She finally sat up, deciding wasting her free weekend was not the way to go. She stretched, and called Patti.

* * *

**A/N: **Anddd yay for me! This chapter is actually cut down a bit! Please please pleaseee! Review. It makes me write faster[I actually have chappies two and three partially written, so perhaps you might actually get an update!

Okay okay, I kinda figured I couldn't trash Chris like that and get away with it, but on the show, he can sometimes be sort of a jerk [an amazingly hot! one and you know, he's a guy going through his teenage years and he doesn't like his 'little' sister messing in his stuff. Cause most siblings don't like their younger sibs trying to hang/interfere. But his behaviour will get better as he matures, I promise : ) (Plus Mel kinda provokes him)  
lovelovelove to all my reviewers, and hey **Beta** position still open!

P.s. I posted this in a bit of a rush at 1 AM, so if there's any mistakes, I thank you ahead of time for pointing them out.


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